66th Senior National Basketball Championship: Many QF berths confirmed; Tamil Nadu women hold nerve in double OT thriller against Karnataka last evening
Mysuru, 13th January 2016: With back-to-back victories, including a double overtime thriller against hosts Karnataka, the Tamil Nadu women have sealed a berth in the quarterfinals to begin tomorrow at the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship in Mysuru. The other women’s teams that have secured a spot in the quarters thus far are the undefeated Indian Railways and Kerala women, along with defending champions Chhattisgarh, 2015 runners up Delhi and the surprise of the tournament, Telangana. The remaining 2 quarterfinal spots are still up for grabs to be decided through the pre-quarterfinal results.
The Punjab women have sneaked through to the pre-quarterfinals knocking out hosts Karnataka on the basis of the head-to-head record between the two teams, rendering the result of today evening’s match between Karnataka and the Indian Railways women inconsequential. Maharashtra women are also through to the pre-quarterfinals with a win against Madhya Pradesh today morning. West Bengal and Rajasthan women will also battle it out in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the men’s section, the undefeated Tamil Nadu (Group B) and Punjab (Group A) teams have qualified to the quarterfinals along with the Services (Group B) and Indian Railways (Group A). The fourth placed Kerala men’s team from Group B are through to the pre-quarterfinals, where they will be joined by Chhattisgarh and Gujarat from Level 2. The remaining three spots from men’s Group B are still up for grabs depending on the outcome of today’s games.
Tamil Nadu women hold nerve in double OT thriller
In arguably the game of the tournament so far, hosts Karnataka women took on neighbours Tamil Nadu yesterday evening, with both teams fighting to advance to the quarterfinals. The players on both sides gave it their all in a neck-and-neck battle. Tamil Nadu played a fast paced game relying on transition offence for their buckets. Although trailing for most of the contest in regular time, Karnataka managed to remain in striking distance of Tamil Nadu till the very end. The stars came out to play for both teams, with Bhandavya leading the way for her side scoring 34 points in the contest. For Tamil Nadu, Varshanandini put up a huge double-double with 32 points and 17 rebounds, while centre Ranjini Peter also scored a double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds. With Tamil Nadu leading by two points with under a minute left in the contest, Karnataka’s Savita nailed a clutch three-pointer to put her team up by 1. Tamil Nadu immediately pushed the ball down the floor and Varshanandini drew the foul with a chance to take the lead. She made one out of two freethrows to tie the game at 74 and send it to the first overtime.
In the 1st overtime the game went back and forth again, with Tamil Nadu gaining a slim 3-point lead in the final minute. Karnataka were without the services of Lopamudra, who was fouled out, after having a good all-round game with 19 points, 11 points and 6 assists. But Karnataka point guard, Supriya, made a miraculous play knocking down a 3 to send the game to a second overtime. In the 2nd overtime, Tamil Nadu took advantage of Karnataka’s foul trouble making no mistakes as they came up victorious by converting crucial free throws.
In the level 2 qualifying round, we witnessed a nail biter in the men’s section as Madhya Pradesh came up short losing to a well-organised Chhattisgarh team. Prakash Mishra, veteran former international player, put up a show with a game-high 48 points. But Chhattisgarh pulled away in the final minutes taking advantage of Madhya Pradesh’s centre being in foul trouble to secure an 88-83 victory.
In the losers knock out games, Haryana women and Andhra Pradesh men advanced to the semi-finals as they defeated Uttarakhand and Bihar respectively.
Morning session of Day 5
In the level 1 women’s section, Maharashtra kept their hopes alive as they won their last group stage match against Madhya Pradesh today morning to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. Maharashtra was led by their experienced guard and captain, Manisha Dange, who scored 22 points.
Gaining confidence from their thrilling victory yesterday evening, the Tamil Nadu women handily defeated Punjab 57-37 to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
Kerala women remained undefeated as they over powered the top spot contenders Telangana, handing them their first loss of the tournament. Jeena PS once again made it look easy as she scored 20 points and grab 12 rebounds to help her team advance to the quarterfinals of the championship.
The Kerala men, on the other hand, are fighting to stay alive in the tournament as they faced the Indian Railways side today. The game remained close for the first three quarters but Railways outscored their opponent in the fourth quarter. Somvier starred for the Railways team with a big double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds, as the Railways pulled off a 84-70 victory. Kerala will now battle it out in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the qualifying matches among the pre-quarterfinalists for the level 2 teams, West Bengal women beat Rajasthan and they have decided to play Maharashtra in the pre-quarterfinal. Gujarat men defeated Chhattisgarh in their decider match, as they are yet to chose their pre-quarterfinal opponent.
Results from morning session of Day 5 (13th Jan)
Level 1:
Women:
1. Maharashtra (Manisha Dange 22, Shireen Limaye 18, Sangeeta Mandal 18) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi Pandey 18, Anubha Thakur 9) 73-56 [19-13, 22-12, 19-19, 13-12]
2. Tamil Nadu (R Varshanandhran 20, K Prithi 11, Rejini Peter 10) bt Punjab (Harpreet Kaur 13, Indu Kumari 11) 57-37 [19-12, 16-10, 16-6, 6-9]
3. Kerala (Jeena PS 20, Stephy Nixon 14, Neenu Mol PS 13) bt Telangana (Divya P 13) [26-10, 15-11, 17-18, 14-7]
Men:
1. Indian Railways (Somvier S. 28, Palpreet Singh 21, Himanshu Sharma 12) bt Kerala (Eudrick Periera 16, Ashwin Xavier Philip 15, Monish Wilson 14) 84-70 (26-31, 23-16, 13-16, 22-7)
Level 2:
Qualifying matches (winner decides who they play in pre-quarterfinal):
Women:
1. West Bengal (Anjana Dezy 25, Madhu Kumari 17, Libina 16) bt Rajasthan (Nisha 27, Kumud Khatri 11) 74-54 (22-8, 17-21, 17-7, 18-18)
Men:
1. Gujarat (Shafiq 19, Vinay Kaushik 18) bt Chhattisgarh (Dinesh Mishra 20, Kiranpal Singh 12) 72-61 (22-17, 15-16, 23-11, 12-15)
Loser Knockout Semifinals:
Women:
1. Bihar (Sravanthi 33, Priyanka 15) bt Haryana (Garima 10) 64-38 (11-15, 19-10, 18-6, 16-7)
2. Andhra Pradesh (Bhavani 25, Nagadurga 16) bt Himachal Pradesh (Jyotika 16, Naina Devi 12) 54-53 (13-14, 17-12, 10-8, 13-20)
Results from Day 4 (12th Jan) after 6 pm
Level 1:
Women:
1. Tamil Nadu (Varshanandhini 32, Ranjini Peter 21, Adhirai 12) bt Karnataka (Bhandavya 34, Savita 21, Lopa Mudra 19) 88-85 [18-19, 23-16, 20-14, 13-25, 7-7, 7-4]
Men:
1. Services (Joginder Singh 31, Narender Grewal 18, Ashutosh 14) bt Kerala (Albin 17, Eudrick 10) 94-68 (26-15, 23-25, 29-20, 16-8)
Level 2:
Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1):
Men:
1. Chhattisgarh (Kiran Pal 29, Rudraksh 16, Dinesh 15) bt Madhya Pradesh (Prakash Mishra 48, Narendra 9) 88-83 [15-18, 18-17, 26-23, 29-25]
Loser Knockout Quarterfinals:
Women:
1. Haryana (Sanju 11) bt Uttarakhand (Mehar Sandu 9) 39-35 [10-8, 6-12, 16-10, 7-5]
Men:
1. Andhra Pradesh (Tharun Kumar 29, Naveen Kumar 20) bt Bihar (Deepak Kumar 20, Dhiraj Rajan 10) 73-53 [15-12, 19-8, 10-21, 29-12]
2. Chandigarh (Ravi Bhardwaj 22, Abhishek Rathi 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Pulkit Sachdeva 17) 65-59 (22-14, 12-13, 13-16, 18-16)
About the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship
The 66th Senior National Basketball Championship is being organised in Mysuru, Karnataka by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA). The tournament is being held at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium from 9 to 16 January 2016. The Punjab Basketball Association is the organising body for the tournament under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India. Matches are being held simultaneously on two indoor (at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium) and two outdoor (at Mysuru University) courts.
Last year’s Senior National Championship was held in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, with Uttarakhand men and Chhattisgarh women crowned champions This year’s tournament is witnessing a high participation of 29 men’s teams and 25 women’s teams. The last time a senior national level basketball championship was held in Mysuru was the 39th edition way back in 1987.
About Basketball Federation of India
The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, 19-year-old Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks. More information at www.basketballfederationindia.org
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